“The President of the United States manages the operations of the Executive branch of the Government through Executive orders. After the President signs an Executive order, the White House sends it to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR).”
President Barack Obama issued 216 executive orders between 2009 and 2017; George W. Bush issued 291 executive orders between 2001 and 2009, and William J. Clinton issued 254 executive orders between 1994 and 2001. Donald Trump has issued 95 executive orders between 2017 and 2019. These Executive orders (all 856 of them) are available online via the OFR. Executive orders get things done. They overcome some of the inertia of the Executive branch’s own bureaucracy. On the other hand, executive orders can, and do, make sweeping changes based on the whim of the executive.
During Obama’s presidency, the Republican members of House and Senate lambasted his executive orders. They called Obama an “imperial president,” a “dictator.” They vigorously attacked Obama as an “emperor” who acted outside “legal authority” for the executive orders he issued. Suddenly, however, the Republicans have changed their tune and are no longer saying that executive orders are “a dangerous level of executive overreach,” since Trump began issuing them. Paul Ryan and others have argued that Trump’s executive orders are different—because they happen to agree with them!
A declaration of a national emergency is an executive order. It was evident yesterday in the 245-182 House vote that Republicans don’t mind “emperor, dictator, imperialist” Trump’s executive orders. The declaration of a national emergency, by Trump’s own admission, is designed to transfer money by presidential fiat for his vanity border wall. This declaration is unconstitutional because it seeks to by-pass the power of the purse given by the Constitution to Congress. In 2014, House member Jim Jordan of Ohio lambasted an Obama executive order on immigration saying, “The American people spoke loudly during the midterms (2014). They want a legislative fix to our nation’s immigration problems, not a presidential executive order.” Did Mr. Jordan hear the loud voice of the American people in the 2018 midterm election? Apparently not.
The moment a president declares a “national emergency” extraordinary powers become available to that president. Under a national emergency the president can shut down electronic communications, freeze our bank accounts, deploy the military to subdue domestic unrest and a host of other unbelievable powers. Broad, undefined presidential power is dangerous—whether it be in the hands of Franklin Roosevelt (internment of US citizens) or George W. Bush (warrantless wiretapping and torture after 9/11).
The House and Senate must overturn Trump’s declaration of a national emergency and if vetoed by the president, they must override that veto. Congress is a co-equal branch of our government. It cannot be circumvented without dire consequences.
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